Off to RTC Great Lakes

[Todd G.]

my Son, Dallas just left for basic training. He is traveling from Shreveport, La. He is scheduled to land at O.Hare around 1900hrs. I am having a harder time than I thought with letting him go! I'm not going to lie to you, when I got home from the airport I broke down. I know it is going to get better, but I don't like this feeling. " I'm a grown man with 29 yrs of military, i''m not supposed to feel like this!" I was filled with all of these emotions. Thinking about all the missed time with my Son and had I not taught him all of the essentials to get through life! He is going to be well taken care of by one of the best military's in the world! I'm not worried I'm, just, going to miss him!

[Tony]

My son Peyton is leaving this Wednesday 1-6-16. I'm already way too emotional I can't imagine what Wednesday is going to be like. I feel like I'm losing my best friend.

[Todd G.]

My wife and I received the form letter with a PIR date of January 22, 2016. Ship 12 Div 078. From what I understand this is a push Div. He graduates a week earlier. I am very thankful for this as I am sure he is!

[Todd G.]

We received "the Boy in the box" last night from Fed-X. My wife wanted to be the one to open it I sent two ink pens with him to use to write us. He had to ship them back for some reason? Everything that I have read so far has been right on point. Should get the form letter on Tuesday? PIR should be 29 January 16? I can't wait to to send him the letters I have already written. I miss my Son everyday, but I know that he is doing something very noble! I know that the process isn't going to be easy and I also know that patience will be tested to the brink! I have no doubt that he will do well and pass all of the tasks that are put before him. He is going to Learn that In order to complete the tasks it is going to take team work. He likes to do things his way. Getting structure with attention to detail is going to be great for him. I cant wait to see him at graduation standing tall with his big ol grin!

[Tony Pitt]

Hang in there.  My son has been at RTC for eight days now and my eyes are blood shot from all the tears. Really hit me when "the box" arrived on the 1st and I pulled his stuff out.

[Navy Dads Co-Admin Tom]

Todd.....Believe me when I say that your tears added to the ocean of all of us parents as we passed through this moment...Welcome to the roller coaster of Basic as Dallas makes his way. There will be smiles and tears shed with every week's passing.....with the arrival of the first letter home.....with the unexpected phone call....and finally, the overwhelming feeling of pride on the day of his P.I.R. We are all here for you & your family! I wish Dallas the best of luck in his endeavors.....

[NavyDads Admin (Paul)]

lest you think you are alone, this was posted by a dad to another member dealing with separation anxiety....

    "I know you have seen some encouraging comments from other members, but I wanted to weigh in here too. On 28 January, a month after completing college, my son was sworn in to the Navy DEP. It was a couple of days after that when it hit me....after 23 years of a daily relationship with him everything was about to change! I knew joining the Navy was going to be the absolute best thing for him. But in spite of that, I became very depressed. I had no idea what I was doing but googled Navy support groups. I found this site. I remember posting my first comments.....reluctantly because I thought others would think of me as less of a man.....how depressed I was already at the thought of my son leaving and he was not leaving for boot until 1 May. Well the responses were surprising! All the admins and a number of other members put me at ease when they responded that every dad on this site, if they are honest with themselves, experienced the same thing. I also followed the great advice from the admins to read as much as possible on this site. All of this really helped! But then came the week before he left. I became very upset and just wasn't sure how I was going to cope. It really took some work to get it under control. Then the day came to put him on that plane to Great Lakes. As the tears flowed, it was my son in a bit of a role reversal that said, "dad, it's going to be just fine." Well from that point everything happened just as it was described by the admins and other members on this site from receiving the "kid in a box" to the form letter to the first phone call. The best advice I received after his departure was to write often. I didn't really think my son would care that much because my son has always been very independent and not the "home sick" type. But I found out two things in writing the letters: he loved them and encouraged it and they were very therapeutic for me! In the 7 weeks after I received his address I wrote 16 letters. All typed, no spacing, and not one under 4 pages long! I would never have imagined being able to come up with that much to write about....but you will be surprised. It truly helped the time move along as well. Then believe it or not, PIR was upon us. My son graduated on 28 June. The only thing I can say about PIR is that as it relates to my son, it was the second greatest day of my life......second ONLY to witnessing his birth! When you see your sailor march into that hall and you realize he/she is now a part of something greater than themselves, it is an indescribable feeling of pride. A feeling that washes away all the tears and angst of the previous 8 1/2 weeks of separation. Now as I look back, I am amazed how time has passed so quickly! As of today my son has been out of boot camp almost as long as he was in it. He is in Pensacola attending IT A school. This is totally different from boot camp. It resembles being away to college as you can communicate freely (voice, text, e-mail) with the exception of when they are in class. So to wrap this up, as others have said, hang in there! You too before you know it will be in the same shoes as many of us....looking back wondering where the time went and posting comments to help parents going through that which you have endured. I cannot emphasize enough how wonderful this site is to help you through it.....from really good information to Navy FAMILY who are there for moral support. God Bless you and your son for his service to our great country!"